Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend had an ill-fated love story

We feel like we know members of the royal family, and their strict traditions, better than ever thanks to the hit Netflix show, The Crown. One of the key storylines in season one was Princess Margaret's desire to marry Peter Townsend, and the heartbreak when she decided to call off the engagement as the only way she would be allowed to marry was to be removed from the line of succession. But what do we know about the man behind the ill-fated romance?

Peter was the King's Equerry

Group Captain Peter Wooldridge Townsend was a Royal Air Force officer, and was Equerry to Princess Margaret's father, King George VI, until the King's death in 1952. He then held the same position with Queen Elizabeth until 1953. Peter married his first wife, Rosemary Pawle, in 1941 and the pair had two sons, Giles and Hugo. The marriage eventually fell apart due to his wife's affair with John de László, whom she married following their divorce. Unfortunately things were considerably more complicated with Peter, since divorcees weren't allowed to remarry in the Church of England, which Princess Margaret's sister was the head of. As such, the couple were urged to wait until Margaret turned 25 and no longer needed her sister's permission to marry.

Princess Margaret broke off the engagement

Despite waiting the allotted time, the pair were still met with problems within the monarchy. A new plan was proposed to allow Peter to marry the Princess by removing her from the line of succession, but keeping her royal titles and public duties. Margaret released a statement confirming that she had broken off the engagement, writing: "I would like it to be known that I have decided not to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend. I have been aware that, subject to my renouncing my rights of succession, it might have been possible for me to contract a civil marriage. But mindful of the Church's teachings that Christian marriage is indissoluble, and conscious of my duty to the Commonwealth, I have resolved to put these considerations before others. I have reached this decision entirely alone, and in doing so I have been strengthened by the unfailing support and devotion of Group Captain Townsend."

Following the end of their engagement in 1955, Peter went on to marry Marie-Luce Jamagne in 1959, and the pair had one daughter, Isabelle. Speaking about his relationship with Princess Margaret in his memoir, Time and Chance, he wrote: "I simply hadn't the weight, I knew it, to counterbalance all she would have lost." Peter died aged 80 from stomach cancer in 1995.

Register FOR HELLO!'s NEWSLETTER

By registering to HELLO!'s newsletter, you acknowledge that you have read and accepted hellomagazine.com's privacy policy, the cookies policy, and the website terms of use, and that you consent to hellomagazine.com using your data according to the established laws.
If you wish to change your mind and would like to stop receiving communications from hellomagazine.com, you can revoke your consent by clicking on "unsubscribe" in the footer of the newsletter.